The hidden credit card surcharge rip off in Canberra cafes

Aldi tell you they are going to charge you if you use a credit card, its 1% and I suspect that goes close to meeting their costs.

I would love to know the charging regime for credit cards, but I bet it depends on who you are, (Woolies or Jo Blow) and also the type of credit card. At one stage, and probably still, a lot of servos and other places wouldn’t take American Express because AE wanted more than fair share to use their card.

The taxi (cabcharge) industry went through a hiatus a number of years ago because Visa imposed “unacceptable” conditions on their use in taxis.

Obviously there is big money in the credit card game, everyone is out to get their cut and the end user is the one that pays for it. I reckon I could knock a couple of bucks of a tank full of petrol if the servo was cash only, but then the servo wouldn’t do to much business!

One place tried stinging me a flat-rate public holiday surcharge of $7 – on a $3 takeaway coffee.

Did not end up getting a coffee from that place.

the cafe/restaurant rip-off at large at the moment is those places who seek to add a surcharge to the bill on sundays and public holidays. this is not lawful and if they want to charge you more on those days they must have a different menu. you can refuse this, but as i am not a lawyer and suspect the op is not one either, i am not convinced by the argument, particularly noting caf’s and ck’s sage contributions (& this is not a plug for sage, btw)

It’s not “common knowledge” to me. And while it is only $2, being forced to pay for something you were previously unaware of is more commonly known as extortion.

Also, according to the law, as summarised on the ACCC website:

Businesses are required to provide consumers with a single cash price for the products or services they offer. The single price means the minimum total cost that is able to be quantified (or calculated) at the time the representation is made.

The single price must include any charges a consumer must pay to purchase the product or service, such as administration fees or booking fees, as well as taxes, duties, fees, levies or charges payable by the consumer for the supply of the product or service.

It’s not rocket science.

A cafe that charges a credit card surcharge is most likely sacrificing long term prfitability for short term gain. My uneducated guess is that 80+% of patrons cop the $2 surcharge without a murmur but mentally make a note not to go back. Their lack of repeat business might not show up in the trading figures for a couple of months or more but when it does it’ll most likely be too late.

Still, I don’t run a cafe so perhaps I don’t know WTF I’m talking about.

I thought it was common knowledge these days. In cafes we frequent we make a habit of paying in cash, even if they don’t pass on the charge. That way everybody is happy!

Of course, you’ll never be happy if the pain of handing over $2 is enough to make steam come out of your ears.

I’m not a lawyer either, but I’m pretty sure that credit cards aren’t legal tender – so offering your credit card as payment is not sufficient to settle your bill, should the merchant decline to accept it.

Years ago in another life I worked in a restaurant. One night a customer’s credit card was declined by the bank. The customer told us they had no cash and said that they would come by the following night to settle the bill. They left a business card and walked out the door.

The boss was furious when he found out what had happend. He rang the cops and was that there wasn’t anything that they could do – it was a comercial matter between a debtor and a creditor. As it turned out the bloke did come by the following night.

antycbr said :

The $2 for a credit card transaction isn’t too bad – being charged $7.70 on a purchase of typically $100 for a Qantas flight is outrageous… Or 10% for using non-cash payment methods in taxis which are already extortionate and underwhelming in Canberra…

$2 is usually about 7-10% of the amount I spend at a cafe if I’m eating. That’s proportionate to the QANTAS charge.

I’m not a lawyer either, but I’m pretty sure that credit cards aren’t legal tender – so offering your credit card as payment is not sufficient to settle your bill, should the merchant decline to accept it.

“Canberrans need to understand that in such circumstances, they are under no legal obligation whatsoever  to pay a fee that they had no idea they would be charged for. My strong advice to anyone finding out about it for the first time at the payment counter is to point blank refuse to pay it. And, if the cashier repeatedly refuses to accept your offer of payment minus the illegal $2 charge, then my understanding is that you are perfectly entitled to walk out without paying at all, because you offered to pay what you legally owed and they refused to accept it.”

Are you a lawyer? I’m pretty sure you’re not my lawyer. All lawyers I have observed at work prefer to calm a situation and get away from the conflict rather than start a fight over $2.

The $2 for a credit card transaction isn’t too bad – being charged $7.70 on a purchase of typically $100 for a Qantas flight is outrageous… Or 10% for using non-cash payment methods in taxis which are already extortionate and underwhelming in Canberra…

…it’s a free market and cafe owners are legally entitled to charge it, and patrons are similarly entitled to either pay up or take their custom elswhere

You forgot the option – free to not give any of them your money and enjoy a well made coffee and sandwich at home with friends.

I’d be putting this into the basket of “it cost 2 bucks to learn the lesson, what will I do with the new found knowledge”?

I eat out fairly regularly and I’ve not come across this yet. I would, however, refuse to pay a $2 on a transaction if I wasn’t notified before ordering.

$2 seems like an outrageous price to pay for a cc transaction. There is no way it’s costing the cafe that much!